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Request New Stadium Succesfully on FM2011

I am starting this thread to try and summarize everything on Building a new stadium on FM2011. I gathered most information from different threads on building a new stadium, attendances, and my long running save with Ajax.

I guess some of the game mechanics may work the same for other versions of the game.

I have found 4 factors that affect building a new stadium;

- Attendance
- Boardroom
- Finance
- '20 Years Rule'

I believe the most important factor in getting a new stadium is Attendance. Not only the average attendance, but in my opinion the most important hidden attendance, the so-called potential attendance were there seats available. Found when making a board request. Your hidden attendance should be higher than the current potential of your stadium in order to get a new one. Holland's population stayed the same at 16,5M, so a nation's population does not really seem to limit getting a new bigger stadium (I never coached in a very small country).

If your 'attendance' is high enough, you have to persuade the Boardroom to build a new stadium.
Dealing with the boardroom is the most tricky part in getting a new stadium built.

First you have to make the request to build a new stadium. I believe a good reputation and relation with the club help. I have no experiences with getting a new stadium built recently after joining a club, so I think you have to be at the club for a while. For my 2nd and 3rd new stadium, I saved the game before making a board request, but both requests were approved immediately.

If you get your request approved, the planning begins. Planning may take a few years and this is where a 'luck' factor comes into play. First planning seems to last one month or year, until the next shareholders meeting at the end of the season. There will be decided wether building begins or planning continues. If planning is delayed it may say planning will take three or four more years, but on next year's meeting a new decision will be made.

The higher your clubs reputation and attendance, the bigger the odds of succes I would think. I don't feel Finance has too much to do with it. You may have to have some money in your balance, but you can take out a big loan on the stadium and get stadium sponsorship which covers part of the costs. When building of a new stadium is approved, you get a news message informing you of the financing, building time and capacity of the new stadium.

Building time depends on capacity I guess, and building may take a few months longer to complete. I think that if your new stadium has a retractable roof, local council board will always block expansion. At least that's my experience. I'm not sure wether a local council can also block a new stadium.

Stadiums in FM2011 have a '20 Years Rule' where you cannot build a new stadium until the current stadium is 20 years old, to the year and not exact, so you can request a new stadium on the 1st of January when the current stadium is old enough. I don't believe there is any way such as a board takeover to get around this 20 year period.

I wanted to try and get a new stadium with Manchester United, so I started a new save managing Man Utd. I got two stadium epansions to raise Olf Trafford's capacity up to 100k, in 2011 and 2013 and from there had to raise the 'attendance' to a high enough level to get the board to build a new stadium. From 100,00 and up, 'atttendance' seems to rise very slowly each year so it took until 2022 to get it to over 115k, at which point the board finally agreed to building a new stadium. Planning is now under way and I'm hoping it will take only one year but it will probably take another year of planning before building shall begin. Will post when finished.

I have to say my proudest FM moment in years of playing was when my club announced they would be building a new stadium, and naming it after me! I think it was after 9 or 10 years at the club, 3 Champions Cups, EURO Cup in the first year, 9 consecutive Italian league titles. To play home games in a stadium named after my manager is a thrill I don't seem to get tired of. My save is now in 2034! Played in the new stadium for 8 years now.

New Manchester United stadium in 2024. Planning took two years and so will building. Attendance rose slowly each year; it seems winning the league raised it by a little under 1k and winning the champions cup just over 1k. In 2024 attendance was 118k and I got the news a new stadium was going to be built.

Building time depends on capacity I guess, and building may take a few months longer to complete. I think that if your new stadium has a retractable roof, local council board will always block expansion. At least that's my experience. I'm not sure wether a local council can also block a new stadium. Guess you may need good corporate facilities for that.

Well obviously this is because the local council is still aggrieved that Batman will not apply for proper landing permits and are concerned about dramatic entrances.

New Manchester City stadium in 2022. Planning took only six months and the news message says the club took out a loan, but there's no outstanding loan because the chairmen paid for all of it (of course he did);

I won the Champions Cup in 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2017, after which club's reputation was worldwide and they accepted my request for a new stadium. In my previous Ajax save planning for the new stadium took 3 years and was finished after I won the Champions Cup (boasting my reputation and 'hidden' attendance), on this save planning took one year and was finished, again, after winning a Champions Cup. When trying to build a new stadium it helps a lot to win Champions Cups.